Creating professional reports can be time-consuming, but the right template can make the process much easier. Whether you need to present data, analyze performance or share project updates, using a well-designed template saves you time and ensures a polished look. In this roundup, we’ve gathered these free report templates that are easy to customize and perfect for any purpose.
From business reports to project summaries, these templates will help you create clear, organized and visually appealing documents in no time. But templates aren’t a perfect solution. Project management software offers a more efficient reporting method for those ready to upgrade. Not ready to make that commitment? That’s okay. These free report templates will still prove useful.
1. Status Report Template
A status report template is valuable for keeping projects on track and stakeholders informed. It provides a clear overview of progress, highlights any challenges and ensures everyone stays aligned with the project goals. Whether you’re managing a small task or a large initiative, using a status report template saves time and ensures consistency. Download this free status report template for Excel to streamline the reporting process and keep teams on the same page.
Once users download this fully customizable free report template, they’ll see it captures the project’s health and progress for a certain period. It begins with general information about the project, such as the name, project managers, etc., as well as defining the reporting period. Progress is outlined in a chart that lists completed and upcoming work, project deliverables and milestones. One section provides an overview of the project’s health, including its budget, schedule, scope, quality control and more. There’s even a risk and change management log. The report ends with conclusions and recommendations.
As we mentioned, free report templates are great. They serve the same purpose as reports in project management software. The big difference is that templates are static documents. Whoever is creating the report has to manually update the data. This not only takes time but can result in human error. Project management software avoids those pitfalls. ProjectManager has real-time status reports that can be generated with a keystroke and deliver data immediately. They can even be filtered to focus on key data points or provide a more general summary to share with stakeholders and keep them updated. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.
2. Progress Report Template
A progress report template helps effectively communicate updates on ongoing projects or tasks. It provides a structured way to outline accomplishments, challenges and next steps, ensuring transparency and accountability. Whether you’re reporting to a manager, client or team, using a progress report template saves time and keeps everyone informed. Download this free progress report template for Word to simplify your reporting process and keep your projects moving forward.
Use this free report template to get an overview of all the activities and tasks that have occurred over a period. Besides the general project information, the report opens with a summary. Here it provides an overview of the project scope, schedule, cost and risk, including the current and prior status and a short summary. It also lists all tasks from the reported period, with their status, objective, planned due date and actual due date. Also covered are issues, the budget, accomplishments and expected accomplishments that should be done by the next progress report.
3. Daily Report Template
A daily report template is an efficient way to track daily activities, progress and challenges. It helps teams stay organized, improves communication and keeps everyone aligned on priorities. Whether you’re managing a project, supervising a team or simply keeping track of your tasks, using a daily report template ensures consistency and saves time. Download this free report template for Excel to enhance your productivity and reporting routine.
Whether used as a daily work report, daily activity report or daily progress or task report, this report template is a thorough way to streamline task tracking and keep one’s manager informed. It holds team members accountable and helps management identify trends, optimize workflows and reduce inefficiencies through standardized reporting. In other words, it keeps updates consistent, structured and actionable for project management, operations management or stakeholder management.
4. Inspection Report Template
An inspection report template is a useful tool for documenting observations, findings and recommendations during an inspection. It ensures that all relevant details are recorded consistently, helping you maintain accurate records and comply with regulatory requirements. Whether you’re conducting safety checks, quality assessments or property inspections, using this template saves time and keeps your reports organized. Download this free inspection report template for Excel to streamline your inspection process and improve reporting accuracy.
Use primarily in construction for building inspections, this free report template allows inspectors to thoroughly gather information and track that work. This ensures that the structure being inspected is safe and meets building inspection standards. As with most reports, it opens with general information, which is followed by an inspection summary of key observations and findings, as well as suggested actions and recommendations. Next, is a breakdown of what’s being inspected, such as roofing, sewer lines, security systems, etc.
5. KPI Dashboard Template
A key performance indicator (KPI) dashboard template is an effective way to track and visualize key performance indicators in real time. This free report template provides a clear overview of your team’s progress toward strategic goals, helping you make data-driven decisions. Whether you’re monitoring sales, marketing metrics or operational performance, this template keeps essential data organized and easy to understand. Download this KPI dashboard template for Excel to improve the reporting process and keep teams focused on what matters most.
Use this free report template to track and analyze progress and performance in business or when managing a project. It monitors the performance of individuals, teams, departments, projects and organizations, including financial health and progress toward strategic goals. Managers can use it to quickly identify trends and businesses can then respond to challenges or opportunities faster. In short, it’s a report that tracks metrics and helps make more data-driven decisions.
6. Bug Report Template
A bug report template helps document software issues clearly and consistently, ensuring they are tracked and resolved. It provides a structured format to describe the problem, its impact and the steps to reproduce it, making it easier for developers to understand and fix the issue. Whether you’re a tester, developer or project manager, using a bug report template streamlines the reporting process and improves communication within the team. Download this free bug report template for Excel to manage bugs more efficiently and enhance your product’s quality.
Our free bug report template for Excel should be used during the QA process of a software product to identify and track a problem in its functionality until that issue has been resolved. This report template ensures that all the pertinent information developers need to do their jobs is included. That saves money and time by getting these bugs out of the product before it’s shipped to end users. It can also be archived and reviewed as historical data when working on similar products.
7. Service Report Template
A service report template is an essential tool for documenting the details of a service call or maintenance visit. It helps service technicians record tasks completed, issues encountered and customer feedback, ensuring transparency and accountability. Whether you’re in field service, maintenance or customer support, using this template keeps your reports organized and consistent. Download this free service report template for Word to streamline the reporting process and improve client communication.
Not only does this free report template summarize the work completed for the customer, but it also helps the company by tracking changes, showing where performance improvements can be made and identifying areas for cost reduction. Companies can use this template to identify trends in service requests by archiving the reports and reviewing them in bulk to better anticipate and respond to customer needs.
8. Project Dashboard Template
A project dashboard template is a powerful tool for tracking project progress, milestones and key metrics in one place. It provides a visual overview of timelines, tasks and budget status, helping project managers make informed decisions and keep stakeholders updated. Whether you’re managing a small task or a complex project, this template keeps your team organized and focused on goals. Download this free project dashboard template for Excel to enhance your project management and streamline your reporting process.
The free report template is made up of a pie chart and three bar charts. These colorful charts make it easy to see at a glance how far the team has gone in completing their tasks, showing their workload and task lengths. There’s also a bar chart that tracks costs. Use this free report template to monitor the project to keep it on schedule and within its budget.
9. Lessons Learned Template
A lessons learned template helps teams reflect on completed projects by documenting successes, challenges and areas for improvement. It captures valuable insights that can enhance future projects and prevent repeat mistakes. Whether you’re closing out a small task or a large initiative, this template ensures knowledge is preserved and shared. Download this free lessons learned template for Excel and improve your team’s performance and project outcomes.
This free report template is a great tool to apply after completing a project, whether it failed or succeeded. That is because it gives the project team space to speak freely on what went right and what didn’t in the project. This information must be truthful if it’s to have a positive impact on the way future projects are managed.
10. Project Review Template
A project review template is a valuable tool for assessing the outcomes and performance of a completed project. It helps teams reflect on what went well, what could be improved and how to apply these insights to future projects. Whether you’re conducting a post-project evaluation or sharing results with stakeholders, this template ensures a structured, comprehensive review process. Download this free project review template for Word to learn, adapt and improve.
Similar to the report template on lessons learned, this free template offers a different format to collect that data. It’s recommended to use both templates. Reviewing projects is so important that the extra time to make sure that nothing vital has been overlooked is time well spent. Review project objectives, goals, risks, issues, staffing, resources, success criteria, baseline versus actual results and more.
11. Change Impact Assessment Template
A change impact assessment template helps organizations evaluate the potential effects of proposed changes on processes, teams and systems. It provides a structured approach to identifying risks, benefits and necessary adjustments, ensuring that changes are implemented smoothly and effectively. Whether managing a small update or a major transformation, this report template will help to thoroughly analyze and plan. Download this free change impact assessment template for Excel and anticipate challenges and manage change more successfully.
Use this free report template to inform resource allocation and reduce risk by walking the organization through how the change will impact things and the related costs of implementing it. This report sets the stage for whatever change is coming and makes sure everyone is prepared, whether that’s a new system, policy or the business relocating.
12. Operating Budget Template
An operating budget template is a valuable tool for reporting and managing operating costs within an organization. It provides a clear structure to track expenses, forecast future costs and ensure financial resources are allocated efficiently. Whether you’re preparing a report for stakeholders or monitoring day-to-day operations, this template helps maintain control over your organization’s financial health. Download this free operating budget template for Excel to improve cost management and ensure your operations stay within budget.
This report template can map out the expected costs for the year to create a more accurate budget and be used to review that year to report on operating costs to stakeholders. This report template can then show whether the operating budget was accurate and if costs increased or came in under what was forecasted.
ProjectManager Is a Better Than a Report Template
Free report projects are great, but they’re more of a workaround than a viable solution to monitoring and controlling a project. Templates are static documents. That means every time one wants to generate a report, they have to gather the data and then manually input it into an Excel spreadsheet or Word document. It’s time-consuming and can be ripe for human error. Rather than wasting time and tempting fate, use project management software. ProjectManager is award-winning project and portfolio management software that can create multiple reports with a keystroke and even filter them to focus on what one wants to know. Other features can help track projects.
Get a High-Level Overview With Real-Time Dashboards
Reports can zero in on aspects of the project or provide a detailed summary, but when a project manager wants an instant status report they can toggle over to the real-time dashboards. Some dashboards cover individual projects and portfolio dashboards that gather data on multiple projects in one place. Both dashboards don’t require any setup and capture live data automatically. Then, they display key metrics, such as time, cost, workload and more, in easy-to-read graphs and charts.
Track Resource Allocation Across One or Multiple Projects
Once resources have been scheduled on the Gantt chart, then onboard teams and set their availability, such as PTO, vacation and global holidays, even skill sets and pay rate, to make it easier to assign them. Then check resource allocation on the color-coded workload chart. Project managers can see who is overallocated or underutilized and balance the team’s workload from that page. There’s even a team page to get a daily or weekly summary of the team’s activities, which can be filtered by progress, priority and more.
Related Reporting Content
While these free report templates cover a lot of territory, there’s still more to learn about reporting. For those that want to continue learning about business report templates, reporting software and more, follow these handful of links to some recent pieces we’ve published on our blog.
- Must-Have Business Report Templates
- Project Reporting Software
- Free Project Report Templates for Excel & Word
- Project Performance Reporting: Key Performance Reports
- What Is a Budget Report? Purpose, Components & Benefits
ProjectManager is online project and portfolio management software that connects teams whether they’re in the office or out in the field. They can share files, comment at the task level and stay updated with email and in-app notifications. Join teams at Avis, Nestle and Siemens who use our software to deliver successful projects. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.
